Shrimp are part of every inshore gamefish’s diet, so be sure to always carry some artificial mimics in your tacklebox.(Photo by Alex Suescun)
June 30, 2025
By Dr. Jason A. Halfen
Just as sure as beads of sweat will roll down your forehead and sting your eyes, the heat of summer will spark terrific inshore fishing in many areas. Down South, for instance, popular targets like redfish, speckled trout and snook are characteristically active as water temperatures climb, feeding aggressively in preparation for their summer or fall spawning. In the mid-Atlantic and Northeast, striped bass and bluefish embark on epic feeding frenzies as they gorge on schooling baitfish.
Whether you’re chasing limits of eating-size fish or a trophy for a viral photo-op, this is truly the time to tap into the inshore action. When faced with such apparent bounty, however, many anglers encounter a significant speed bump that can derail any outing before it begins. It’s precisely the number of choices (in potential targets, locals and tactics) that can lead many anglers to scratch their heads and ponder, “where do I begin?”
The fastest way to shorten the inshore learning curve is to keep tackle, lures and baits simple. (Photo by Alex Suescun) K.I.S.S. SYSTEM The fastest way to shorten the learning curve and crack the summer inshore code is to “keep it simple stupid. ” The top two goals for every novice inshore angler should be to catch fish and have fun. Early successes and failures will both provide clues and lessons that increase the inshore-fishing data bank in your head and eventually yield the consistency every angler strives for. It’s essential, however, to return to the water frequently and during different conditions to continue connecting the dots and fine-tune your fish-tracking and angling skills.
Building a small, but versatile arsenal of three rods and reels that will cover a variety of species in your region is a good start. Again, keep things simple and get all the rods of similar length (6-foot 6-inch to 7-foot), but each rated for a different line class. Think about the combos that you’ll build with those rods like you’d think about drink sizes at the coffee shop: small, medium and large, each fit for targeting fish of different dimensions and/or fighting power.
Advertisement
For your lightest rod, the one you will likely use when specifically targeting speckled trout, weakfish, or other fish of lesser power or size, pick one rated for 6 to 10-pound line with medium-light or medium power. Match it with a 3000-series spinning reel and spool up with 10-pound braid with a trace of 15-pound fluorocarbon leader on the end. For medium and large fish, choose one rod rated for 8- to 17-pound line and another for 10- to 20-pound. You’ll want those in medium or medium-heavy power to show brawny redfish, snook and stripers who’s boss. If you opt to stay with spinning, match those rods with a 4000- and a 5000-size reel respectively. If you go with baitcasting, you’ll want a 5000- and a 6000-size round reel, or 200 and 300 if you’d rather go with low-profile models. Spool the lighter of the two with 15-pound braid and the heavier with 20- or even 30-pound. As for the leader, you should still use fluorocarbon, but base the breaking strength and/or diameter on the intended target species. Some, like snook and tarpon, have rasp-like jaws that will quickly wear through leader lighter than 40-pound (50-pound if they’re big).
TOE THE LINE A common theme in all three suggested combos is the use of braid as the main line and fluorocarbon for the leader. Braid provides greater strength and sensitivity than other options, plus its smaller diameter will also add distance to your casts, sometimes a critical requirement to present your offering to the fish, especially if you’re fishing from the beach, a pier or jetty.
Fluorocarbon, which is nearly invisible underwater, is impervious to the sun’s damaging UV rays and more resistant to abrasion than nylon monofilament, so it’s more likely to survive rubbing against rocks, dock pilings and other submerged structure. A 2- to 4-foot length is perfect for most inshore duty. A Double Uni knot, an easy knot to learn and tie quickly, works well to connect the leader to your fishing line, as long as you keep the leader short enough that it doesn’t repeatedly have to pass through the rod guides. If you prefer a longer leader, it’s best to learn to tie the more compact and stronger FG knot instead.
Advertisement
GOING LIVE The summer months are typically marked by an incredible abundance of forage in the inshore environment. With so much natural prey available, it often makes sense to go with the flow and offer our finned adversaries the baits that they’re already focusing on. Certainly, you could just purchase the bait, but this is the perfect time to catch your own, either with a cast net or hook-and-line. You can learn so much about what your target fish are feeding on by catching your own liveys. If your cast net is full of shrimp, then use shrimp for bait; if you catch mullet or croaker, then use them instead. Let the most prevalent forage guide your bait selection because that’s what the fish will be chasing and eating.
Next, put that live bait in a spot where it can be easily detected and consumed by gamefish. A simple bottom rig is a great way to stay in direct contact with the bait and feel the bite. As a rule of thumb, you should use 1-ounce of sinker for every 10 to 20 feet of water depth, going heavier if the current or wind are strong, or if the live bait is large and frisky. Use strong, reliable circle hooks. Think 1/0 or 2/0 for your smallest combo, 3/0 for the medium, and 4/0 to 5/0 for the large. Of course, bait size ultimately determines the ideal hook size. You don’t want to use one too large or too small for the bait.
Remember that, with circle hooks, you don’t want a big sweeping hookset. Instead, you should just reel until you come tight to the fish, then raise your rod to a 45-degree angle and continue to reel to load the rod. That helps the hook find purchase, usually in a corner of the fish’s jaw.
ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS When it’s time to graduate into the world of lures for your inshore fishing, consider investing on soft plastics in the sizes and colors that imitate common forage species in your area. Berkley , LiveTarget , Z-Man Fishing Products , Rapala , D.O.A. and many other popular brands make a wide array of faux baitfish and crustaceans that have proven very effective over the years. In addition to lifelike replicas, it’s good to have some jig heads and curly and paddle tails in your bag of tricks. The weight of the jig head makes for excellent casting distance and enables you to fish the entire water column, and the terrific action of the soft plastic tails often triggers strikes when other lures won’t.
This article was featured in the June-July issue of Game & Fish magazine. Click to subscribe
